Lagadapati says arrest me first for suicides

The Vijayawada MP, Mr Lagadapati Rajagopal, on Thursday announced that political parties and leaders are responsible for suicides of innocent people in Telangana, Rayalaseema and Andhra regions and asked the government to slap criminal cases against the leaders, including him, for provoking the youth.

Mr Rajagopal volunteered to get arrested first. He was speaking after submitting a report to the Srikrishna committee here at Jubilee Hall. “Only politicians will benefit from the division of the state. People will have no benefit and politicians should be framed with criminal cases for instigating the youth to suicides. They (police) can start with me,” he said.

He declared he would quit politics if the Central and state governments decide in favour of bifurcation. He said every political leader wanted to be Chief Minister; as there is only one post available, they are trying to divide the state.

Earlier, Mr Rajagopal surprised the Srikrishna committee by representing a team comprising 32 well-known people in different sectors. They included former IPS and IAS officers, economists, ex-servicemen, doctors, social activists, builders, rights activists, employees and engineers, who form the National Council for Peace and Integration that Mr Rajagopal heads.

The freedom fighter, Mr N. Madhava Rao, who hails from Telangana, defended the united Andhra stand. The former Union minister, Mr P. Sivasankar, who is from Telangana, joined Mr Rajagopal and submitted his opinion to the committee.